A Visored Change of Heart
by Assassin Black
Summary: A Visored is shunned but accepted enough to be able to walk through the Soul Society freely. That changes when one event leads to another.
1. Introduction

"You're mission is cut and dry. You go to the disturbance location and deal with it as you see fit. Kill anything you see, whether it be hollow or human. We know you will have no problem with the task given. Now, go before this gets anymore out of hand." A figure stood in a white circular room that was about fifteen feet in diameter. The room accented the figures pure black Shihakusho that was hooded as well, keeping the figures face covered from everywhere except the front. All the front shown was a face built like a teenager as well as a light beard that looked to be just coming in. The figure looked to only be around five and a half feet tall. The figure had no visible weapons or even anything that could be used as a Zanpakuto. The figure just stood in place until the voice had stopped talking, being as still as a statue. The voice sounded like it belonged to a female but that was all that could be assumed. The figure silently turned and walked to a seemingly solid wall when a doorway sized archway seemed to fall into the ground below. The man stepped out and the section of wall shot back to meet the rest, making the wall seamless yet again. The man walked quickly down one of the many bridges leading every which way around the Seireitei. The man was on a bridge that extended from the highest spot from the White Tower. The man started walking forward, almost hallway to the White Tower.

"Well, if it isn't the depressing freak himself. Where are you going, now? Going to clean up a job we already started?" The man stopped, facing away from the voice. It came from Kenpachi Zaraki, with Yachiru perched on his shoulder. The hooded man turned his head slightly to make a gesture to act as if he was acknowledging the two.

"Won't talk, like usual? I bet we wouldn't hate you as much if you did." Kenpachi laughed and shook his head, knowing he was being sarcastic himself.

"Aw, Kenny, don't be so mean. We don't even know the guy. He is one of the only hollowfied Soul Reapers that were able to come to the Seireitei."

"I don't want to get to know a low life like him." The man stood silent, watching the two out of the corner of his eye, walking away after they started bickering. No sooner after he had started moving away did Yachiru get off of Kenpachi's shoulder, flashing onto the railing beside the hooded man.

"Hey, I always wanted to know what you have below that hood of yours!" Yachiru outstretched her arm, reaching for the hood. The man reacted quickly and moved his arm defensively to Yachiru's stomach. Kenpachi reacted after the hooded man, drawing his Zanpakuto to swing at the hooded man. All of this happened in almost a blink of an eye and ended with the hooded man having a Kenpachi's Zanpakuto at his throat and Yachiru with an arm inches from her stomach.

"You will regret going any farther, monster." Kenpachi was standing to the man's left. The one section of face that was uncovered showed a crooked smile, looking just as devious as Kenpachi's when he is in a true fight.

"Kenny, I would be okay. I just want to know what is under the hood." Yachiru and Kenpachi glanced away from a moment to talk to each other and when they came back, the man was gone.

"See, Kenny. Now he left." Kenpachi sheathed his Zanpakuto, looking around the bridge to see him falling to whatever was below.

"Hm, cowards' way out."

The man had jumped off of the bridge, his back facing the ground. The scenery below was getting closer and it looked like a random sector in the Rukongai. There seemed to be a few resident souls wandering about but none seemed to be aware of the falling Visored. Except for a few kids, who were pointing and giving the falling being attention when he was about twenty feet from the ground.

"Hey, Rei is here!" One of the kids said, pointing at the man. At only around ten feet from the ground, the man, presumably called Rei, used his spiritual energy to slow himself to a very slow float. He moved himself into a standing position and safely landed onto the ground.

"Rei, Rei, did you do anything interesting today?!" A group of a few kids ran up to Rei, who had pulled the hood off his face finally. The Visored had kept on the hood because of something that showed what he was. Over his right eye was a section of a make that looked to be in a stretched teardrop position with the bottom larger part over his eye and being stretched back to a point on the center back position on the back of his head. The eye that was covered had the normal shape for an eye that was shining a bright red. The eye that wasn't covered looked nothing like the other, instead being a bright blue, contradicting the hollow eye. He also now had a smile on his face rather than an angry frown. Rei's hair looked to be extremely long, growing into the back of the Shihakusho. It had random stripes of white and black in no certain pattern running down it.

"Me, do things exciting? Not without you guys around. Unfortunately, I have got another errand to run. I shouldn't be that long but in case I am, I promise I will play tomorrow." Rei had a voice that sounded it belonged to a teenager around the age of eighteen but that was given away by his face. The kids sighed but waved goodbye, running back towards where they lived. Rei had fallen into where he almost always did whenever he needed to get away from the Soul Reapers at the Seireitei. Unlike the kids who accepted Rei for what he was, the Soul Reapers were much less forgiving and some were more prominent about their disapproval than others, like Kenpachi.

"Leaving already? Come on, you just got here." Rei turned his head to the voice, which belonged to a young woman. She had on a blue and red plaid Kimono but wore no shoes. Her hair was a bright blonde and was in its normal bun. She had a smile and looked to be not much older than Rei. She also had a voice that matched her age.

"I would like to stay but I cannot. I have a mission that needs to be done. As well as the kids whenever I get back. I can visit you tonight, if you want."

"Fine, go ahead but you owe me. I will be angry if I do not see you tonight." The woman crossed her arms and left, a skip in her step. Rei watched for a moment before turning away towards the Seireitei. A doorway appeared as with most Soul Reapers used when they entered the human world. Rei's was decorated with cryptic writing on the wood besides the opening and on the doors, as well as a half a dozen talismans hanging from wood barely protruding from the top of the frame. Rei stepped in and it closed quickly behind him, disappearing into nowhere in the Spirit Plane.


	2. Chapter 1

Rei's doorway from the Spirit Plane appeared on the roof of a business building in Karakura Town. It was well into the night, making the rooftop only lightly lit by the moonlight. The night was quiet and the darkness was barely but by the moonlight itself. Clouds covered the sky, causing spots of major darkness to casually cover the ground.

"I hate nights like this. This doesn't foresee a good outcome. Either way, the target has to be eliminated like any other, along with all obstacles. Time to get to work." Rei still brought out no Zanpakuto and just started moving toward the target location.

-Flashback-

"The target is small but is not afraid to kill. The target uses its size as an advantage, using that advantage when fighting. It will be a difficult fight for you as well and we command you to use no more force than necessary, which means no changing into the Hollow. You will have to use your head more than your own strength, understand?" The female voice spoke to give Rei his orders and other intelligence that could be gathered from scouts and such. It was less than normal because one couldn't get close without being injured or worse, killed. The Soul Reapers that were tasked with scouting had a dangerous job because they were going in with nothing to be able to protect them against the attackers.

"Yeah, right. If I need to use my Hollow, I will. You cannot stop me."

"You're mission is cut and dry. You go to the disturbance location and deal with it as you see fit. Kill anything you see, whether it be Hollow or human. We know you will have no problem with the task given. Now, go before this gets anymore out of hand."

-End Flashback—

The night was still as Rei moved from his position to the approximate position of the target. There was no way to tell if the Hollow was still in the same place because if it moves, especially with the speed of the Hollow. The roofs and high poles helped Rei get around from place to place. Rei kept his body down low, gathering speed slowly but getting to the position faster and faster. Rei had replaced his hood again, as not to let anything, Hollow or a human with strong spiritual energy, see his true self. On special occasions, there were souls that were being hunted that got a look at Rei before he had eliminated his target but none saw his true face.

It had taken a few minutes but Rei had eventually gotten to where his target had been located. It was in a small street that looked barely big enough for one automobile, so it probably was a back alley or something. The perfect place for an agile Hollow to hunt the prey. Hollow almost always have to 'play' with the prey before getting the final kill. Rei had landed on one of the nearby lamp poles, waiting for the Hollow to get closer.

"Now I play the waiting game. Once this thing gets close enough, I slit its throat and leave. I doubt this little thing is worth my time, anyhow. Those Soul Reapers are just too slow that goes any faster than a visible run. They are lucky I haven't decided to do anything to them but given the situation…" Rei was talking to himself and ended by slowly fading out to being speechless. He always did this whenever he had nothing else to do while waiting and such. Rei waited a few more moments in complete silence, listening and concentrating for any spiritual presence whether it be Hollow, soul, or strong human. Rei perked up in a moment after feeling the presence of what he assumed what his target. The odd part was there were more than one presence, in fact there was three. Rei was still perched on his spot on the pole, looking in the direction of the spiritual presences. They were coming toward him quickly, probably a chase but why three?

"Okay, now is the hard part, in a way. I guess no matter what the target is, I just need to cut down whatever stands between me and the target." Rei turned his head to the right, seeing all the beings he felt. The three pressures came from an odd group. One was his target, of course, but the other two were unusual, especially given the situation. The other two came from a woman, holding and running with her young child in her arms. Rei's eyes widened in shock, not having this situation come about to this day. On any normal mission, anyone that got in his way usually boiled down to some human that he didn't care about. Even if it was just the woman alone, Rei would cut her down if she came between himself and the target. The child that was added made Rei hesitate and he wasn't sure how to react. The Hollow, though, had no problem chasing and catching up to the pair. Rei acted instinctively as a Soul Reaper, pushing himself off of the pole to the ground between the Hollow and the pair. The Hollow looked like a panther. Its mask was mostly black with a large white spot underneath the chin and above each eye. The beast's body was a straight black pelt but the Hollows muscles were a little larger, especially around the legs which would give the clue about its speed. The beast was getting ready to bite the pair as Rei fell in between them, leaving the Hollow to bite nothing but the air. Rei had flashed stepped just in time to grab the woman who was still holding her child, flash stepping away again to the roof of a nearby house. The panther looked around, keeping his eyesight only eye level on his own level.

"Wha-!" Rei put his hand on the woman's mouth, who was going to make a noise but Rei didn't want to catch the Hollows attention. It was still looking around for the pair and was confused because Rei was doing his own special technique to keep his own spiritual pressure down as well as making the pairs spiritual pressure lower, almost to where they disappeared completely. The Hollow had started looking up into the air but Rei had moved himself and the pair behind the house so they couldn't be seen in its vision.

"Don't. Say. A. Word. I don't know what you are doing but you are not getting that Hollows attention and getting in my way. Stay here or else." Rei spoke clearly and kept his hand on the woman's mouth, getting a little more firm. The girl in the woman's hands was not as fearful, especially because the little girl was unconscious from either fright or because of something the Hollow may have done. The woman nodded, trying to get Rei's hand off of her mouth as well. Rei removed his hand slowly.

"O-Okay. I don't know who you are or what is going on but…thank you for this." Rei crawled up the house to its peak, peering down to the street where the Hollow was moments ago. It had disappeared and only empty air was in its place.

"Where did that thing go!" Rei stayed low, scanning the area below and attempting to sense its pressure. The pressure was jumping around quickly but it had suddenly stopped behind him.

"Ahhh!" Rei was slightly startled by the scream but turned to see the panther, yet again, going after the woman. Rei flash stepped again but this time went for the Hollow rather than the human. Rei had the Hollow held off by what looked like just a simple wooden staff horizontally held.

"I don't know what you are going after but I don't like it!" Rei was holding the beast back with one hand and the staff held between its jaws. The Hollow was thrashing its body around, trying to set its jaw free without moving backwards. The woman was squeezing her child tighter but keeping her eyes set on Rei and the Hollow. Rei pushed forward hard and the Hollow got pushed off the roof but instantly flashed back up and to a different side of the woman, going for her again. Rei growled and immediately reacted, twisting his staff backwards to stop the beast again. It adapted and flashed away but this time didn't come back right away. It instead continuously flashed to different positions. The woman was sitting with her child at her chest and her legs against the child's back. The child was still out cold and the woman was frantically looking for the beast, paying little to no attention to Rei.

"Fine, if that is how you want to play. Awaken, Shana!" Rei held his staff beside him and just held onto it by a couple inches, leaving the rest to hold itself up. The staff pulsed and a dark mist surrounded it and after a couple of seconds, a long blade came from the end away from Rei, forming the staff into a scythe. Rei spun it and stuck the blade a couple inches into the roof he was on.

"Your soul will be my treat, Hollow." Rei disappeared in a blink of an eye. The woman was alone on the roof, just as panicked as she was before. The night fell silent like it should be and the air cold. The woman was frozen in the position on the roof for a few more moments before attempting to push herself onto her feet. Not once since Rei had seen her did she take her arms off of her child completely, even though the child looked big enough to be quite a bit of a weight on her physically.

"H-Hello…?" The woman carefully stepped around the roof, not daring to get too close to one edge at all. She was wearing what looked like work khakis and a tanktop, so it wasn't hard for her to walk around than someone wearing a dress in the same situation. Her bright red and short hair was in a mess on her head as well. It was silent for a few more moments before a Hollows cry could be heard and the woman instantly froze in place. She was then met with the mouth of the Hollow barely a foot away from her throat. She was ready to scream but the stock of the Rei's scythe stopped the attacker once again but this time, Rei continued until his whole arm was in the beasts mouth. The woman backed away a few steps and the Hollow started chomping on Rei's arm, causing blood and marks to occur. Rei was beside the beast, smiling a demented smile and laughing in a way that matched the smile.

"That's right, try all you want. Oh, this feels so great. You really are weak. I can't believe this was too dangerous for anybody else. You make me sick." Rei gripped his scythe and threw the beast down so its back was against the roof. Rei's foot was on the Hollows stomach to keep it held down but it struggled nonetheless.

"I told you your tainted soul would be mine but it wouldn't satisfy a low level Hollow, let alone someone like me. You are lucky I kept you alive as long as I did, scum." Rei lifted his scythe high as he talked and by the time he was done, the scythe was impaled on the Hollows mask, cutting it straight down the center the length of the mask. It ceased moving at that point and simply decomposed into nothing.


End file.
